Chapter 36: Taking Over (Part 2)

“Cough, cough…”

Dean, who had just sworn, seemed to have an uncomfortable throat. He took out a handkerchief to cover his mouth and coughed softly a few times.

Under the morning light, that handkerchief gave off a soft sheen.

Silk!

The few young people who were knowledgeable immediately gasped. They knew just how precious this rare fabric from the White Night Kingdom was—their Lord, that Lord Baron, once had a piece, but it was mounted on a wall hanging, placed high in his Study to display his wealth.

Yet this new Regiment Commander of theirs actually used it directly… well, although that was the true use of a handkerchief, but… this, this was too wasteful of a precious object!

The young people, secretly calculating that the value of this handkerchief was enough to let themselves and their families live a worry-free life for a year, all felt a heartache over it.

Dean pretended to ignore such gazes. He took a deep breath, swept his eyes over the young people around him, and slowly said: “Go, open the supply warehouse. Each person is to receive a set of cotton clothes and felt boots!”

“B-but, Regiment Commander Potts…”

“Right now, there is only Regiment Commander Dean. You are also under my, Regiment Commander Dean’s, command—as for Regiment Commander Potts’ orders? I will explain it to him in detail after he returns!” Dean interrupted the young people’s words once again. Looking at the crowd who had not yet moved, his tone grew slightly heavier. “What? Have you forgotten who is commanding you right now?”

The young people looked at each other in dismay. Finally, two Militia Captains stepped out and walked toward the supply warehouse—they did not dare to defy Potts, but they also did not dare to defy this new Regiment Commander who came from a prominent Family in the Capital of Emerald and held a silk handkerchief; in fact, they feared the latter even more.

Therefore, they decided to listen to the latter.

Moreover, the other party had promised to explain things to Potts. Even if Potts would be angry, upon seeing a scion of such a large Family, he would probably have to restrain himself, right?

That is right, the moment the silk handkerchief appeared in Dean’s hand, in the hearts of these young people from the Tier Territory, his status automatically upgraded; and this was exactly what Dean was happy to see.

Otherwise, he would not have spent four Gold Pulton to buy this handkerchief, which seemed to him merely a decoration.

And now, it was naturally worth more than the cost—

With someone leading, naturally others followed. Moreover, Theron and Ike themselves held the highest prestige among the young people. With the two of them leading, there was naturally no problem.

Of course, no one wanted to continue suffering in the freezing snow and ice.

As for Regiment Commander Potts’ fury?

With the new Regiment Commander taking the blame, they would at most be scolded severely, and that was commonplace for them. Compared to warm clothes, that naturally did not count for anything.

Therefore, what started as fear soon turned into a swarm.

If not for Theron and Ike having considerable prestige, and Dean also walking over, a chaotic looting would definitely have occurred.

“One set of cotton clothes per person, and the same for felt boots. Everyone’s name needs to be recorded… do any of you know how to read?” Dean walked into the warehouse and asked.

But this time, not a single young person answered. They all shook their heads blankly.

As sons of hunters, they clearly had no chance to receive such higher education—literacy and mathematics were not educations that ordinary families could accept.

Dean’s previous inquiry was merely a test on the off chance.

“Alright, this is a problem that will take a longer time to solve; for now, you just need to remember that the clothes and shoes in your hands are your own. You cannot lose or damage them—of course, natural wear and tear is not included!”

Dean added another sentence, then after assigning the task of distributing the cotton clothes and felt boots to Theron and Ike, he began to inspect the other supplies in the warehouse.

And merely a minute later, Dean finished his inspection.

His furrowed brows clearly showed that Dean had not found a satisfactory harvest.

Regarding that Potts whom he had taken out, Dean naturally knew of the other party’s greed, but Dean had not expected the other party to be so greedy as to lay hands on the Knight Order’s supplies—there was no spare Armor; not only steel Armor, but even leather ones, there were no spares.

Swords and weapons were also only enough to equip a small squad, clearly prepared for his Guards.

And even so, these weapons lacked sufficient maintenance; rust had already appeared on some sword blades—Dean highly suspected that such Longswords would snap directly during a slash against an enemy.

As for bows and crossbows?

Apart from two Longbows with broken strings, Dean found no other harvest.

As for those cotton clothes and felt boots?

They were likely supplies that had to be prepared due to the cold of the Tier Territory; otherwise, they would absolutely have met the same treatment as the weapons and Armor.

The warehouse of a local Knight Order had almost been reduced to the state of only having cotton clothes and felt boots.

If this were spoken of outside, it would probably become the biggest joke, right?

Of course, more importantly, this would likely affect his next plan—

“Even if I have Gold Pulton to buy them, it is too late!”

Dean frowned in thought until Theron and Ike finished distributing the cotton clothes and felt boots. Only then did he speak again in that slow, clear tone of a Noble: “Now, Theron, you continue to take your men to stand duty!”

“Yes, Regiment Commander!”

Wearing warm cotton clothes and felt boots, the young Militia Captain answered with a touch more volume in his voice.

“Ike!”

Dean called out to the other Militia Captain.

“Here, Regiment Commander!”

Compared to Theron, this Militia Captain was undoubtedly smaller in stature and not very burly, but being able to become one of the leaders among a group of hunters’ sons, Dean would not underestimate the other party based on appearance, even if he had not heard the other party’s name in his memory.

“Ike, you lead your men to prepare some quality food for everyone—did you hear me? Quality food! I don’t want my banquet as Regiment Commander to be filled with a bunch of stewed dishes! Do you understand?”

Dean emphasized repeatedly.

“But Regiment Commander, we don’t have more ingredients—even in the Regiment Commander’s kitchen, there are only some mixed-grain bread, ham, and pickles!”

Compared to Theron’s caution, Ike undoubtedly behaved much more generously, and his answer was clear and logical.

“Then, take two people and go to the town to buy some ingredients. Oh, and wine too!”

Dean spoke as a matter of course. And this time, before Ike could open his mouth, a Gold Pulton landed in Ike’s hand with a ‘ding’, tracing a beautiful arc.

Even Ike, who performed much better than Theron, was stunned looking at the Gold Pulton in his palm.

Dean paid no attention to the stunned other party. He said to the remaining Militia: “You know how to maintain weapons, right? Children of hunter families, if you can’t even do this well, your Fathers will surely kick your asses hard! Now, except for those returning to town with Ike, the rest of you, maintain the weapons in front of you properly!”

As he spoke, Dean walked toward the outside of the warehouse.

When he reached the door, Dean seemed to think of something. He stopped, turned around, and said: “I will be in the Regiment Commander’s room waiting for news. Come get me when the banquet starts—Ike, I hope our banquet can start by noon, understand?”

“Yes, Regiment Commander!”

The short-statured Militia Captain, having come back to his senses, answered loudly. Then, he immediately picked two tall team members, grabbed his Long Spear, and ran out.

As for why he carried a weapon?

Although Baron Tier had repeatedly forbidden carrying weapons, no one really took such an order seriously. Whether it was those hunters who had to carry their own bows and hunting knives, simply for their own safety, people needed weapons to give themselves peace of mind.

Even a Dagger was good.

…

Dean walked into Potts’ room. When the firewood in the fireplace was lit, in less than two minutes, a warm breath appeared in the entire room. After Dean took off the cloak he wore over his clothes and hung it on a hook by the door, he began to carefully inspect his ‘spoils of war’.

First, there were the documents with Potts’ signature—imitating the other party’s handwriting absolutely required these; after all, that Baron Tier was not as easy to fool as these young people, especially with a Noble’s style, he would scrutinize every detail; however, precisely because of this, it gave Dean more opportunities.

An identity as an illegitimate child of a declining Noble in the Capital of Emerald or a loser of a side-branch competition was enough for that Baron Tier!

Forgery, Dean was not an expert, but he was not a novice either.

Of course, before this, the most urgent matter remained Potts’ signature. Only with Potts’ signature could his ‘temporary’ takeover of the Knight Order’s matters become ‘justified’—and this required some time.

Therefore, Dean had set a time for Ike, letting the other party witness the ‘accident’ in Tier Town, but not stay for long. If he secretly made a trip home, the time would be even shorter; thus, the news of him taking over here would absolutely not be known by more people.

It was limited only to the owner of ‘Snow Bear’s Home’, or Ike’s parents, and so on.

And that was enough.

After all, by the time that Baron Tier received the news here, the big picture would have been ‘decided early’.

Of course, this required Dean’s subsequent plan to go smoothly, and Dean was full of confidence in this plan.

Setting aside the documents with Potts’ signature, Potts’ property also needed to be thoroughly inventoried, to serve as reserve funds for Dean’s future development.

Very quickly, whether it was the paper with Potts’ notes or Potts’ small private treasury, Dean found them all.

In fact, this was not difficult at all, because they were all placed inside a small hidden door—the correspondence and profits with Mold were clearly not to be seen by others.

Dean counted them; there were about four letters, but the Gold Pulton were not many, only fifty.

Undoubtedly, the real bulk had been taken by Mold.

And this did not exceed Dean’s expectations. After counting, he placed these Gold Pulton into the two money bags obtained from Mold, and together with that small bag of gems, placed them all in the hidden door—although he did not need these Gold Pulton for now, for future development, these Gold Pulton were just a drop in the bucket.

Next, Dean began to process those letters.

However, before processing them, Dean clicked open his character panel—

[XP: 93]

This experience value was prominently listed.